National women's team Kenya Divas missed out on a place to the Netball World Cup set for Sydney in 2027 after being relegated to the fifth place playoff at the ongoing Africa Cup at Kasarani Indoor Arena.Download Our MozzartSport App For More NewsDivas face Zimbabwe in a fifth-place ranking match on Saturday,26 September, after World Netball’s decision to send Malawi and Namibia to the 2027 global showpiece.Initial fixtures had indicated that both Zimbabwe and Kenya would get a chance to fight for qualification with clashes against Malawi and Namibia respectively, but the decision was reversed.Omanyala returns to former school to launch sprints clubDivas head coach Tapiwa Chirenda saidd the change had been difficult for his players to process, but urged them to refocus on finishing the tournament strongly.“It’s very difficult now,” said the Zimbabwean. “We have to go back, reorient the girls, get their mindset back, and we just try and play for the rankings.”South Africa and Uganda women came to the championship already qualified for the World Cup via world rankings. They also dominated Pool One and Pool Two, respectively and will meet in the final on Saturday.##NAJAVA_MECA_9985378##Malawi and Namibia who came second in their respective pools got the nod to join the two already qualified sides.Meanwhile, men’s national team, the Netkings, missed out on a medal for the second successive year after being outplayed 46-35 by Uganda in the bronze-medal playoff on Friday.The loss means Kenya will again finish outside the medals after losing the bronze-medal match to Eswatini at the previous edition in Malawi in 2025.Uganda, meanwhile, secured their first medal in their second appearance at the African championship, with head coach Asiimwe Jesse noting that the result reflected the team’s progress after finishing fifth last year.Madina Okot, Dream learn first-round opponent of WNBA PlayoffsKenyan midfielder Stanley Benaia identified defensive cohesion as one of the team's biggest shortcomings."The challenge we had today against Uganda was our defence. When we stopped playing defence as a unit, we left it to goal defence and goalkeeper instead of defending collectively,” he revealed.Benaia nevertheless sees room for growth, calling for a stronger bench and greater development of younger players.Eliud Kipchoge’s course record under threat in Berlin
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